Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar Quotes
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People say that steadiness of mind is an end; no, it is a beginning. I am there; I can explain everything up to that point. Then I struggle to discover what comes after, so this steadiness is not an end, it is the beginning and the instrument.
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We have two physical eyes, but every pore of the body is also an eye.
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As we shave it happens that we cut ourself with the razor blade; this does not mean that we must not shave in the morning any longer. It is the same thing for yoga.
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The primary aim of yoga is to restore the mind to simplicity, peace, and poise, to free it from confusion and distress.
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You must continue to go back to the beginning, to the foundation, and question the foundation. Even once you‘ve reached Samadhi you must go back so you can create it at will. Samadhi is the beginning of spiritual growth, not the end. You must always be questioning. Enlightenment comes as an accident at first, then you have to learn to recreate it.
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As the trunk is one but the branches are many, yoga is one but adaptations may vary.
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The yogi learns to forget the past and takes no thought for the morrow. He lives in the eternal present.
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A yogi's brain extends from the bottom of the foot to the top of his head
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Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires toward a judicious, intelligent awareness.
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Love begets courage, moderation creates abundance and humility generates power
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The needs of the body are the needs of the divine self, which lives through the body.
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Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific researches further and further? To a yogi, the body is a laboratory, a field of experiments and perpetual researches.
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Keep your attention internal, not external, not worrying about what others see, but what the Self sees.
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While doing the postures, your mind should be in half-consciousn ess, which does not mean sleep. It means silence, emptiness, space, which can then be filled with an acute awareness of the sensations given by the posture. You watch yourself from inside. It is a full silence.
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Give more than you receive. That is the principle I tell all my students.
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When you are practicing, do not just do that for the sake of doing. Learn to reflect while you are practising. Make your mind and brain observe and relearn what you are doing. Doing is mechanical; learning is dynamic.
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I don’t bring yesterday’s poses to today’s practice. I know yesterday’s poses, but when I practice today I become a beginner. I don’t want yesterday’s experience. I want to see what new understanding may come in addition to what I felt up to now.
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Nothing can be forced, receptivity is everything.
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When you inhale, you are taking the strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.
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Savasana is being without was, being without will be. It is being without anyone who is.
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Balance in the body is the foundation for balance in life.
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Health begins with firmness in the body, deepens to emotional stability, then leads to intellectual clarity, wisdom and finally the unveiling of the soul.
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Yoga, an ancient but perfect science, deals with the evolution of humanity. This evolution includes all aspects of one's being, from bodily health to self-realization.
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Not all practitioners can jump to that highest level. They have to climb, step by step from the physical sphere to reach the spiritual sphere. If it is treated as exercise it is not the fault of yoga but of the practitioners.